Hansen's disease in pregnancy

Hansen's disease with pregnancy is an uncommon concurrence in the United States. The clinical courses of 62 pregnancies in 26 treated patients with various types of Hansen's disease are reported. In general, patients with Hansen's disease do well in pregnancy. However, the subgroups of active lepromatous and dimorphous types have an increased incidence of obstetric and disease complications. Additional important observations include a high incidence of false-positive biologic tests for syphilis, with the possibility that the FTA-ABS test may also be falsely positive in pregnant patients with Hansen's disease. Sulfone drugs may be used safely during pregnancy. There is a low incidence of congenital malformations, but an unusually high incidence of twinning in this small group of patients.